Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Erzsébetváros
One of the centres of the new cool Budapest is
Erzsébetváros
, separated from
Terézváros
by the narrow
Király utca
(the main road through the area before Andrássy út was built).
The vibrant “ruin garden” (
romkocsma
) movement that has spread through the city started
here among the decaying apartment blocks and empty plots of the old
Jewish quarter
. The
run-down stock of the district is also attracting big money in housing and retail developments
such as the
Madáchsétany
,cutting swathes through the old city,ordoing upolder parts such
as the Gozsdu-udvar or Kazinczy utca.
THE JEWISH QUARTER
In the streets fanning out to the east of Károly körút lies Budapest's old
Jewish quarter
.
After Josef II's reforms in 1783 allowed Jews back into Pest for the first time since the de-
feat of the Turks, they were invited to live in the grounds of Count Orczy's house between
Király utca and Madách tér. Thereafter they flourished, and the Pest community grew from
eight percent of the population in 1800 to twenty-three percent in 1920. In April 1944 this
was chosen by the Nazis as the location of Budapest's Jewish
ghetto
- a sign on Wes-
selényi utca by the synagogue marks where the ghetto gate stood. All Jews living outside
the ghetto were compelled to move in. As their menfolk had already been conscripted into
labour battalions intended to kill them from overwork, the 70,000 inhabitants of the ghetto
were largely women, children and old folk, crammed into 162 blocks of flats, with over
50,000 of them (in buildings meant for 15,000) around Klauzál tér alone.
JEWISH QUARTER WALKING TOURS
English-language guided walking tours of the area, run by Aviv (Sip utca 12 1 462
0477,
aviv.hu
), depart from the Dohány utca Synagogue (daily except Sat at 10.30am,
11.30am, 12.30pm, 1.30pm & 2.30pm; April-Oct also 3.30pm & 4.30pm). The cheapest
tour (2850Ft) simply covers the synagogue and memorial garden; another (3200Ft) in-
cludes the Jewish Museum, while the most expensive (3800Ft) also features the Rumbach
utca Synagogue. For a fascinating personalized walking tour of the entire quarter, contact
Eszter Gömöri (
bp.cityguide@gmail.com
)
, who charges €20 an hour.
The Dohány utca Synagogue
Dohány utcai Zsinagóga • VII, Dohány utca 2-8 • March-Oct Mon-Thurs & Sun 10am-5.30pm, Fri
10am-3.30pm; Nov-Feb Mon-Thurs & Sun 10am-3.30pm, Fri 10am-1.30pm • 2500Ft including the Jewish
Museum • 70 533 5696,
greatsynagogue.hu
One of the landmarks of Pest, the splendid
Dohány utca Synagogue
(also known as the
Great Synagogue, Nagy Zsinagóga) is Europe's largest synagogue and the second biggest in
